The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Held Captive by a Hypoglycemic Squirrel

I’ve been baking cookies over the last few days (in a frantic attempt to get caught up), and I decided to save the final trimmings from the cut-out cookies to bake and toss outside for the birds.

Yes, I could just throw those last few scraps away, but it just seems so wasteful.  So I made cookies for the birds.

Well, and for the squirrels.

I baked the little bits, let them cool, tossed them out the window onto the platform outside my kitchen window, and went back to the next batch of cookies.

I was scraping down the stuff inside my stand mixer when all of a sudden I heard a THWACK!

And here’s what I saw:

Fortunately I had the sense to pick up my cell phone and fortunately the squirrel had the courtesy to freeze in position every now and then.

What the heck was he doing?  They don’t usually behave this way.  They sit there, cutely nibbling seeds or crusts of bread.  They don’t ATTACK THE HOUSE.

But then, I don’t usually give them freshly baked cookies, either…

“Please, ma’am!  I want some more!”

But I didn’t have any more.  I shook my head regretfully and the squirrel scampered away.

I thought he (or she) had accepted my head-shaking and was okay with that, but apparently not.  Because several minutes later I heard another THWACK!

And I looked behind me and saw this:

Um, buddy, I’m sorry, but I really, really don’t have any more cookies for you today.

“Yes you do, lady, I can smell ‘em!  Let me in!”

No, those are cookies for my family and my friends.  Not for squirrels.  Sorry!

The squirrel made a rude gesture and fled.

That was weird.  Maybe I shouldn’t

 

THWACK!

Not again!

But yep.  Again.

This time at the kitchen door!

 “I know you’re in there, lady!  I NEED THOSE COOKIES!  And stop taking my picture!”

“Please?”

Nesting

Yesterday morning the kids were looking out the window and saw this busy little critter.

She (I’m assuming it’s a she) was running up and down the tree gathering dead leaves and twigs and bringing them up to her little hidey-hole in one of the larger branches.

Hungry Squirrel

It snowed here.

Scrutiny

 

The kittens loooooove to watch the wildlife.  Thing is, they keep hopping up onto the kitchen counter so they can see the birds and squirrels we feed, and they're really not supposed to be on there.

But when a photo op such as this presents itself, I let the rules slide a bit.

 

That's Scratchy on the left, Softie on the right, in case you were wondering about the cats.

As far as the rodent goes, it's either Squirly or Squirlio, according to my kids.  Doesn't matter if there are more than two squirrels around - those are their names.

You know, it's kind of pleasant to be so easily entertained. 

If Only They'd Perch on My Fingers, I'd Be Just Like a Disney Princess

 

This guy. 

If I don't put peanuts and birdseed out on time, he's sitting out on one of the platforms, staring at me through the kitchen window.  Waiting.  He doesn't tap his foot, but he seems like he might at any moment.

Re: The Recent Spate of Squirrel Larceny in My Yard

For those of you who may have read this recent post and were both horrified and outraged at the crime committed outside my home whilst I was earnestly and virtuously typing about rice and vegetables and all...

I present to you - the victim.

If I remember correctly, she is Queen of the Night (I ordered her from a catalog several years ago).

Once stately and elegant, now, thanks to a marauding rodent, she is bruised and battered...

...and broken off of her rhizome.  She now resides in a cobalt blue vase (appropriately regal in color) filled with nourishing and restorative aitch-two-oh.

In addition, one of the buds on the stalk broke off, right at the neck, so I've got a little orphan bud in a small glass of water on the windowsill above my kitchen sink. 

Here's the Queen in her hospital vase, gazing out at the garden that was once her home.

Alas.

But - the nice thing about irises is that they do well (I mean, as well as any cut flower can do) in water.  Last year I would take stalks of them in to work and they would bloom all week at my desk - the buds would slowly open, just like they would have in the garden.  I didn't really like cutting them, but since I was at work more during daylight hours than I was at home, I figured it was the only way I'd really get to enjoy them. 

And they smelled wonderful, most of them.  People would stop at my desk just to look and inhale and admire them. 

Anyway.  That is the follow up to yesterday's crime story.

Many thanks to Jen for inadvertantly providing me with a good laugh and a title for this post.

Squirrel larceny. Hahahaha! 

Perfect.

 

Wildlife

A Little Snow This Morning

 

Pictures of Squirly. Or Was it Squirlio?

Recently we started putting out peanuts in the shell for the local squirrels.  Because it keeps them busy and allows the other birds to eat the bird SEED we also put out, and because my kids love squirrels and they're kind of entertaining.  The squirrels.  Well, so are my kids.  At times. 

But anyway, a few days ago I had put out some stale bread on a little shelf on top of the rail to our deck, which is visible through the windows above the kitchen sink (in case you were interested) and then I put the zoom lens on my camera and waited for the squirrel.  Or squirrels.  In this case, there was one.  I don't know his name, but I'm sure my son could tell you. 

Anyway, these are a few of the shots.  Keep in mind I'm shooting through a window and a screen, so that's why some of the pictures have a sort of soft focus effect going on.

Caring For Our Wild Friends

We don't just feed people here....